“Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters” – the title itself is absurdly funny, at least if you find the current trend of turning fairy tales into action-film fodder comical.

It could be called “Hansel & Gretel Kick Some Serious Butt.” That's what the titular sibs – amusingly played by Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton – do.

They talk and act like modern-day folks dropped into an olden-days, Brothers Grimm world.

“I hate to break it to ya,” Gretel says, a gun trained on a witch, “but it's not going to be an open casket.” Then she blasts the witch's head off.

Bro and Sis swear like truckers. Gretel refers to an angry mob of villagers as “hillbillies,” then head-butts the control-freak local sheriff (Peter Stormare). Hansel asks, “Any place we can get a drink in this hellhole?”

They're so anachronistic in their speech and attitudes that it provides lots of laughs – and that's what's intended. (A hint that comedy might be involved is provided in the opening credits, where Will Ferrell is listed as one of the producers.)

In fact, the humor is largely the film's appeal – much like in the “Evil Dead” sequel “Army of Darkness,” though “Army” was better (hard to beat its star, the hilarious Bruce Campbell, on this score).

The new film opens with a chilling retelling of the original fairy tale, with Hansel and Gretel as children abandoned in the woods by their father, finding a cottage made of candy, falling victim to a witch inside and eventually tossing the witch in the oven.

Then the film jumps forward to when the sibs are bounty hunters traveling from village to village to rid them of any local witches about. Their new prey, Muriel (Famke Janssen), is particularly powerful, vicious and deadly – an intimidating, scary foe. Her underlings also are a colorfully creepy lot.

At 88 minutes, the movie zips along. This is quick-hit entertainment – no classic, but a solid combination of action, comedy and horror.

Tim Miller's reviews can be found at www.capecodonline.com/miller. His blog, Miller's Movie Blogorama, can be found at www.capecodonline.com/millerblog.